Silence Is Golden

…but unfortunately, that is a phrase Thaïs doesn’t believe in.

My daughter can talk. No, I mean, my daughter can TALK. From the moment she wakes up in the morning to the time I tuck her in at night, she talks non-stop.

But doesn’t she have an afternoon nap, you wonder? You should get some peace and quiet then… She does nap for about two hours in the afternoon. Most days. Occasionally she skips it, when her cousins are around and she’s too excited to sleep. But of late I’ve noticed that she has started talking even in her sleep. I’ve heard her carrying on lengthy conversations with her cousins while she’s sleeping.

I got quite alarmed the first time I heard her. Most of the time she’s bullying them into letting her get her own way, which is generally the case when she’s awake. I guess being the youngest, and being the only girl, she gets away with it. So the only time she isn’t talking is when she’s eating. That’s the rule here, no talking until you finish eating. It works, for the most part. You’re only allowed to talk if you have something really important to say, like, “Look at my boo-boo… I fell down today.” If you examine the ‘wound’, it’ll usually be a superficial scratch. You wouldn’t even give it a second glance. But I guess to a two-and-a-half year old, it’s important. Or maybe it’s just her burning desire to talk.. And boy, is she loud! I suppose she has to be, to be able to bully her cousins. But I wish she’d turn down the volume when she’s with us. Sometimes we’ll be sitting two inches apart and she’ll yell right in my ear. Then immediately she’ll apologize, whisper the same thing again (like I didn’t hear it the first time!) and give me that heart-warming smile, I just want to pick her up and squeeze her!

Her dad and her aunt (my sister) both talk a lot, so there’s no surprise where she gets it from!